


Belonging

by koalathebear



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Angst, Fluff, Humor, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-01
Updated: 2012-01-01
Packaged: 2017-10-28 15:55:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,862
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/309538
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/koalathebear/pseuds/koalathebear
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set after Sateda</p>
            </blockquote>





	Belonging

"Ronon's going to be fine," Sheppard said reassuringly to everyone gathered in the room as he glanced around for confirmation.

"Physically, yes," Dr Heightmeyer agreed, nodding over at Carson questioningly. "Dr Beckett?"

"Yes, I'll be able to discharge him in a few hours. I've cleaned the wound, stitched him up and he doesn't appear to have broken or sprained anything. The other cuts and bruises are of a superficial nature. Ronon's physical powers of recuperation are quite extraordinary."

"Which doesn't in any way suggest that he's more evolved," Rodney muttered beneath his breath.

Everyone in the room rolled their eyes simultaneously.

"We have no way of knowing everything that took place in Ronon's past. From what I can gather he has never really spoken to any of us about it - he certainly refuses to speak to me," Heightmeyer admitted ruefully as she recalled what a spectacular failure the psych analysis sessions with Ronon had been. They usually involved Ronon sprawled carelessly in a seat in her office, staring at her warily while she asked him questions that he answered as briefly as possible without giving anything away about himself.

"I'm sure Ronon's just fine," Sheppard repeated, looking very uncomfortable.

"What part of 'home planet wiped out by the Wraith, everyone he knows is dead, although he refuses to speak about it' leads you to believe that he's fine?" Elizabeth asked coolly.

"Colonel Sheppard, has he ever discussed his past with you?"

"I know he was on the run for 7 years from the Wraith. He's loyal and he's damned good in a fight. That's all I need to know - we don't have to beat on kettles in the forest, run with wolves and cry over sad movies or anything."

"Be manly or die?" Elizabeth asked, eyebrows rising.

Sheppard stared back at her with a hint of defiance. "Yeah. Exactly."

"Some of the scarring he has suffered is quite horrific," Beckett interrupted their stare-off.

"We've never sat down and swapped scar stories if that's what you mean. Maybe Rodney could do that," Sheppard commented sardonically and everyone looked over at Rodney who instinctively protected his wounded buttock with two hands.

"I think I'll pass," Rodney muttered, glaring at everyone.

"Teyla, you're very close to Ronon ..." Dr Heightmeyer suggested.

Teyla sighed. "If by close you mean that we both occasionally feel like outsiders and that we do not belong, then yes. If you mean that he has shared any information of a personal nature with me, then no - I cannot say that we are close."

Carson looked doleful. "I have of course attempted to make conversation with Ronon, but given that we are frequently thrown together during situations of dire peril or where he has been grievously injured ..." Everyone turned and looked at Elizabeth who cringed. "....it's not at all surprising that he doesn't feel able to confide in me."

"Oh this is ridiculous," Rodney announced loudly. " _Again_ , it falls to me. I'll do it. You want me to commune with Captain Caveman? Get in touch with his inner puppy, find out the ghosts that haunt him, making him the surly, yet uncommunicative man he is today? I'll do it. Now can we quit wasting time? There's a Stargate quota to fill."

Everyone just stared at Rodney silently without saying a word.

"What?" he demanded defensively. "What makes you think I can't be sensitive? You think I can't charm the savage beast? Ronon and I share a _connection_ \- we have been on many missions together. When the two of us were trapped on Michael's hive ship - we _bonded_. He's saved my life, I've saved his life. Liberty, fraternity -"

"You still call him a caveman," Elizabeth pointed out flatly.

"I mean that as a term of friendship and profound respect!" Rodney protested.

"It's very clear to me, Ronon is suppressing a lot of past trauma and emotion. It's not good for him - or us," Dr Heightmeyer said gravely.

"You can't seriously think that Ronon's going to snap and turn psycho on us all!" Sheppard protested incredulously.

"Well he does have anger management issues," Rodney interpolated.

"I think that what Dr Heightmeyer is saying," Carson interrupted diplomatically when he noticed Teyla's protest forming,"is that we all care about Ronon. From how he behaved on Sateda, it's clear that he is carrying around a lot of guilt and unhappiness. As doctors both Kate ... I mean Dr Heightmeyer and I know that it's not enough that we heal the body. We must also tend to the mind and spirit."

"Are you saying Ronon's nuts?" Rodney asked.

"No!" Everyone shouted at once.

"Just asking!"

"Look, _someone_ is going to have to reach out to Ronon," Dr Heightmeyer said firmly.

Everyone again turned to stare expectantly at Elizabeth.

"Me?" she demanded incredulously, looking very ruffled. "Don't be ridiculous? Why would he talk to me? I mean we ...."

"The idea has merit," Rodney mused. "As leader of Atlantis, Elizabeth commands authority and respect. It's clear that Ronon, in his own unique Cro-Magnon way, follows an antiquated and somewhat feudal, notion of obedience to authority."

Heightmeyer cut him off. "Dr Weir has diplomatic skills, she is empathetic and - "

"Are you saying we're not empathetic?" Sheppard challenged, looking rather offended. "Just because we don't want to go all touchy feely?"

"I can't be the one to try to talk to Ronon. Aside from anything else, I _shot_ him once," Elizabeth protested.

"That was a long time ago, he will have forgotten by now," Rodney dismissed her excuse.

"Ronon understood you weren't responsible," Teyla comforted her.

"Ronon's shot me on at least two occasions and I don't hold it against him," Sheppard pointed out to her.

" _Stunned_ you. I shot him with a _bullet_ and he was hospitalised!"

"And is completely recovered, Elizabeth," Beckett reassured her. "I'm sure that this needn't prevent you from trying to speak with Ronon."

Heightmeyer smiled warmly at her in encouragement. "Reach out to him on a personal level - let him know that you are there for him."

"You'll be great," Carson assured her confidently. "Perhaps find out what his interests and hobbies are."

"I think there is a chance he will listen to you," Teyla nodded after considering the issue thoughtfully. "I would work up to the issue of his lost family, gradually."

"Can't hurt," Rodney muttered, still looking unconvinced. "Just stay off the topic of the Wraith - he gets all kind of grrrr, argh and growley about them. No point antagonising him."

Elizabeth was conscious of a throbbing in her temples. She glanced at Sheppard, wondering what _his_ sage advice was going to be.

"Go for it, tiger!" Sheppard offered bracingly.

Elizabeth tried not to grimace. The throbbing was now exploding into a full-fledged headache.

***

"Hello Ronon," Elizabeth greeted him brightly in the commissary. Ronon placed his lunch tray on the table, looking as though he was intending to sit down although with Elizabeth's arrival he elected to continue standing as he waited for her to speak again. His face was still slightly cut and bruised and he was limping but otherwise looked well on the road to recovery.

"Hello." Ronon replied, staring at Elizabeth with a faintly questioning expression on his face.

"So. Carson says that you're doing well."

"Yes, he discharged me from the infirmary." Ronon responded politely, but, with the air of someone addressing an idiot.

"That's wonderful news." Elizabeth smiled back. Ronon said nothing.

In the silence, Elizabeth's gaze followed the squareness of Ronon's jaw, lingering on his surprisingly sensitive mouth. Ronon had always seemed unsettlingly large to Elizabeth. In her eyes he came across as a quiet, occasionally menacing giant of a man. She found his steady watchfulness just the slightest bit disconcerting. The fact that she couldn't stop her eyes from appreciating the smooth, tanned skin of his powerful arms, left bare by his shirt was _very_ unsettling.

Her gaze returned to his face. Ronon's eyes were very quizzical and something bordering on amusement coloured his expression. He appeared in no hurry to speak or to break eye-contact. His hair was drawn back neatly from his face, a marked contrast to how wild his hair had been when his unconscious figure had been carried back from Sateda. Nonetheless, the neatness did nothing to detract from the tautly coiled energy and masculinity of Ronon Dex.

"I ... uh ...." With an effort, Elizabeth tore her gaze away from his, aware that it was now Ronon's gaze that was travelling slowly, assessingly over her body. During briefings his gaze often rested on her in a quiet and considering fashion. There was unexpected warmth in his expression now.

Elizabeth's eyes focussed on the splash of colour on Ronon's lunch tray that was sitting on the table. Blue Jello. It always surprised her that something so bright blue in colour wasn't a lethal pathogen.

Ronon continued to watch her.

"Thanks for coming back for me," he remarked unexpectedly. Elizabeth stared at him in shock. She ignored the heads peeking around the doorway to the left. Rodney in particular was almost losing his balance as he tried to catch what was being said.

"There's no need to thank me. I was .... _we_ were never going to leave you behind," she assured him earnestly.

There was a very gentle, difficult to read smile curving Ronon's mouth. He didn't say anything, merely waited. His silence forced Elizabeth to continue. "In fact, what I very much want to tell you is that -"

One strongly marked eyebrow lifted almost imperceptibly.

Elizabeth smiled again. "Ronon - we're very happy that you're back safely. We realise that ... previously, your life was extremely difficult."

The eyebrow lifted even higher and Ronon started to look amused.

"That was my foot!" Elizabeth heard Teyla exclaim.

"If you ever want to talk - about anything," Elizabeth spoke hastily, increasing the volume of her voice. "- well I just want you to know that I'm here."

The look of disbelief in Ronon's eyes was Elizabeth's undoing as she re-focussed on the blue Jello, cursing the individuals still eavesdropping in a shameless fashion from the doorway.

Ronon studied Elizabeth's downcast face, as she examined the bright blue dessert intently as if it held answers to all the questions in the Universe.

"Want my Jello?"

"Yes. Thanks. Excuse me," she she muttered, escaping for the door, very aware that Ronon's eyes were brimming with laughter.

"Did you talk to him?"

"His body language appeared very positive."

"Did he tell you about his family?"

"What did he say?"

"He gave me his Jello."

"Hey that might be a mating ritual in Satedan culture."

"I think it highly unlikely that Jello could ever be found in Sateda."

The voices faded into the distance, but Ronon didn't move from where he was standing. His mind lingered in pleasure on the startling possibilities. The memory of the expression in Elizabeth's eyes warmed him as did the obvious concern of his ... friends.

He glanced around Atlantis, studying the way the sunshine poured through the thick glass, filling the huge room that that was a abuzz with conversation and activity. There was warmth in this new home that he never would have expected. The healing process had already begun.


End file.
